Exam 1

Question 0

Common sense vs folk wisdom

Answer 0

Common sense often constricts itself such as birds of a feather flock together and opposites attract

Question 1

“The what”

Answer 1

Social psychology is about ….
• learning what people actually think, feel, do in
given situations

Question 2

“The why”

Answer 2

Why do people do what they do?
• What are the internal and external processes
that influence thoughts, emotions, behavior

Question 3

Social Psychology

Answer 3

The scientific discipline that attempts to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others
(Gordon Allport)

Question 4

FIVE FUNDAMENTAL AXIOMS

Answer 4

1. ) power of the situation
2. ) social influences are pervasive
3. ) people construct their own reality
4. )interactionist perspective
5. )fallibility of intuition

Question 5

The Research Process

7steps

Answer 5

1. Research topic & literature review
2. Research question
3. Hypothesis
4. Design & method selection & preparation
5. Data collection
6. Data analysis
7. Data interpretation

Question 6

The research process

BiG 5

Answer 6

1. The power of random assignment
2. The power of manipulations
3. The power of control over potential confounding variables
4. The power of relative differences between conditions
5. The power of causal (vs. correlational) inferences

Question 7

Random assignment

Answer 7

Each participant is equally likely to end up in each condition of the experiment
• Distributes individual difference variables approximately evenly across conditions

Question 8

Manipulations

Answer 8

Every participant receives same treatment within each condition
• Between conditions, we know what the only likely difference is: our
manipulation

Question 9

Control over potential confounding variables

Answer 9

Allows for very similar conditions between conditions (EXCEPT for the manipulation), because the context, atmosphere, temperature, etc. are held constant

Question 10

Relative differences between condition DVs

Answer 10

Even if some outside variable was influencing participants, it was likely to influence all of them (because we held variables other than the IV constant across conditions)

Question 11

Causal (vs. correlational) inferences

Answer 11

If we have manipulated a variable, we can have considerable certainty that the IV (the manipulation) caused or influenced the change in the DV

Question 12

Introspection

Answer 12

We know usually what we do but not why

Question 13

Self perception

Answer 13

Who I am is determined by what I do
Two-Factor Theory of Emotion: Observe felt arousal → seek explanation for it
Dutton & Aron (1976) bridge experiment : Is this love?

Question 14

The Looking-Glass Self

Answer 14

We come to see ourselves as others see us

Discrepancies: We internalize how we THINK others appraise us (not necessarily how they actually do)

Question 15

Self-regulation

Answer 15

Purposefully controlling one’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior
Predicts:
● Stable relationships
● More success
● Less criminality
● Better mental health and longer life.

Question 16

Walter “Marshmallow” Mischel Study:

Answer 16

Gave 4 yr. olds & marshmallows
Delay of gratification
Self-control = 2 mallows.
Self-control failure = only 1.
On average self-control kids +210 pts. on the SAT!

Question 17

Classic depletion study

Answer 17

IV easy task vs. difficult task
DV performance on subsequent difficult task
Results – performing a difficult task leads to poor performance because of ego depletion

Question 18

Ways to increase self-control resources

Answer 18

Rinsing sugar in your mouth - dopamine
Incentives - $, grades
Believing the self-control is NOT a limited resources

Question 19

Positive Self-Illusions

Answer 19

1. Judgment illusions
2. Illusions of Control
3. Unrealistic Optimism

Question 20

Judgment Illusions

Answer 20

Unrealistically positive self judgments
Self serving bias - We all have a natural inclination to see ourselves as better than average

Question 21

Illusions of Control

Answer 21

How much do we control our own fate?
-Entity theorists vs. Incremental theorists
-entity: we are born with relatively fixed abilities
-incremental: skills are learned and thus malleab

Question 22

Unrealistic optimism

Answer 22

-Good things likely to happen to the self
-Bad things likely to happen to others

Question 23

Self-Enhancement

Answer 23

we are motivated to maintain high self-esteem

Question 24

Self-Verification

Answer 24

Tendency to seek confirmation of both positive and negative self-beliefs from others

Question 25

Self-enhancement vs. Self-verification?

Answer 25

Self-enhancement:
motivated to maintain high self-esteem
Self-verification:
Motivated to seek confirmation of both positive and negative self-beliefs from others

Question 26

Self monitoring

Answer 26

monitor and adjust behavior to fit current situational demands

Question 27

Self handicapping

Answer 27

self defeating behavior in order to have a ready excuse in case you perform poorly or fail

Question 28

Dual Process Model Logic

Answer 28

In most cases, we prefer to use as few cognitive resources as possible.
People are cognitive misers
Both motivation and free cognitive capacity are necessary to engage in deliberative thought.

Question 29

What determines whether we engage in effortful deliberations?

Answer 29

Motivation
•Humans as “satisficers” (Simon)
•Self-related motives (e.g., self-enhancement)
Capacity
•Constraints on working memory ( 7 +/- 2) •Cognitive “load” / multitasking
•Task difficulty

Question 30

4 Components of Automatic
Reactions

Answer 30

1. Efficient – reactions don’t require much mental capacity or time
2. Unintentional – reactions that occur without an explicit desire, goal or intention to have them
3. Uncontrollable – reactions that we cannot prevent
4. Without Awareness – reactions we may not even be conscious of having

Question 31

Heuristic

Answer 31

mental shortcuts that reduce complex judgments to simple rules of thumb

Question 32

Heuristics: Anchoring Effects

Answer 32

tendency to be biased toward the starting value (or anchor) in making quantitative judgments

Question 33

Heuristics: Stability Effects

Answer 33

tendency for early impressions of an individual not to be overridden by subsequent conflicting information

Question 34

Availability Heuristic

Answer 34

tendency to judge the frequency or probability of an event in terms of how easy it is to think of examples of that event

Question 35

False Consensus Effect

Answer 35

tendency to
overestimate how common one’s own attitudes, opinions, and beliefs are in the general population

Question 36

Salience Bias

Answer 36

activated events will come to seem as if they occur more frequently

Question 37

Ease of Retrieval

Answer 37

Experienced ease of calling up information influences a judgment

Question 38

Confirmation Bias

Answer 38

seeking information that supports our beliefs while ignoring disconfirming information

Question 39

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Answer 39

process by which expectations about a person or group tend to be fulfilled by that person or group because of how we treat them